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The Commons is designed to reach beyond today’s highest green building standards and become the first U.S. home to meet the Living Building Challenge.
The Commons will generate all its own energy - without fossil fuels, reclaim all its water, be free of unhealthy materials and be a place of beauty and community.
We are Garrett and Dustin Moon, two brothers from Portland, Oregon, and we want to share the experience of building The Commons as well as the lessons we learn along the way.

This portion of the roof is transparent to allow light to filter through, but keeps the courtyard below mostly dry and
allow for its use during rainy Portland weather.

A subterranean shop will allow the occupants to maintain backyard space for a garden and fruit trees. By
virtue of being underground sound created from tools and activities will be deadened reducing noise pollution.

Large glass roll-up doors on both the greenhouse and sunspace will blur the boundary between indoors and out.

A building's envelope is arguably the most important consideration when designing a sustainable structure.
Taking cues from the Passive House standard, the walls for the Commons will be made using double steel
stud construction techniques (with an overall thickness of 12"), insulated with AirKrete and clad in fiber
cement paneling. Currently AirKrete does not have ICC approval, but we're hoping that BDS will let us use
it anyway because it is, non-toxic, not a petroleum product (as most other high performance insulations are)
and not susceptible to moisture damage. Fiber-cement cladding is a highly-durable and non-toxic material
that will act as an effective barrier for the insulation from the elements.

All water used in the house, including potable, will be gathered from rainwater falling on the roof and
stored in a cistern. This not only removes the reliance on municipal water systems but also increases awareness of usage.

Incorporated in the roof design is a green roof, which will reduce the urban heat island effect and
potentially temper heating and cooling loads in the building. The green roof will also slow storm water
runoff removing the load on the city's waste-water system. If everyone were to do this, along with
catchment, it may have relieved the need for the Big PipeProject.

All power used in the home will be provided by a roof mounted solar array. This system will be grid inter-tied,
obviating the need for batteries. Through the course of the year, the home will be net-zero energy; when the solar
array is producing more energy than is needed it goes to the grid, when the solar array is not producing enough,
the home pulls power from the grid.

Click the blue circles to find out more

In The News

What People Are Saying

“Keep doing what you’re doing – it means a lot to the next generation of builders and designers to see that this stuff isn’t just talk but walk. You elevate the conversation, and show that ‘just do it’ is more than a worn out shoe slogan.”

— Peter Gramlich M. Arch LEED AP

“I truly believe that Dustin and Garrett's project represents everything that is right in contemporary home design. Their knowledge of the green lexicon is surpassed only by their desire to implement it.”

— Crockett Marr, Assistant Dean, Reed College, Portland.

“This project is a bold undertaking and it's absolutely necessary. Right now, we are at a point of crisis with global warming. We absolutely need fresh bold solutions that are far above and beyond the steps we've taken so far. These guys are taking existing advanced green building techniques and tying them together into a revolutionary design and modeling the kind of building we will need in the future. Their work is inspiring because they are doing the hard work and heavy lifting to make it easier for everybody else. They're pioneers.”

“I absolutely love Dustin and Garrett's chutzpah making a do-it-yourself project into one of the nation's most sustainable homes, all on a tiny budget and lots of their own sweat.”

— Brian Libby, Architecture Writer

“Everybody will benefit from their success. Right now, we're at a point of crisis globally and we absolutely need fresh bold solutions that are far above and beyond the steps we've taken so far. These guys have a unique capacity to inspire people with a bold vision and the passion to make it happen. When they finish this house it'll be absolutely unique. It may not be perfect but it will inspire builders and homeowners and it is the kind of home we will need in the future. Their work is absolutely critical.”